Sliver table



C. v. HINTON ETAL Aug. 1 O, 1954 I SLIVER TABLE Filed July 1, 1950 zusheets-sheet. 1

I NVENTORS ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 10, 1954 UNITED STAT SLIVER TABLE Charles V. Hinton and Richard Ferguson, Charlotte, N. 0., assignors to The Terrell Machine Company, Charlotte, N. 0., a corporation of North Carolina Application July 1, 1950, Serial No. 171,666

(Cl. 191l5) 13 Claims.

The present invention relates to multiple-head cotton combing machines of the well-known Heilmann type, in which the combed and piecedup fleece of fibers is deposited by the detaching rolls in an inclined tray known as a sliver pan, in transversely pleated or gathered relation to provide the necessary slack for the feed-back of such web in piecing up the successive combed tufts.

The combed web is condensed into sliver as it leaves the sliver pan, by being pulled through a condensing trumpet by a pair of calender rolls; to support and guide the slivers from the several combing heads on their way to the draw box which drafts them and combines them into a single sliver for delivery into a can at the end of the machine, a fiat sliver table with a highly polished top surface is provided extending throughout the entire length of the combing machine.

These sliver tables have hitherto conventionally been made of relatively heavy castings, so that their top surfaces would remain flat and true. Because of their weight and size, they were cast in sections, and it has always been a problem to join the several sections end to end with their top surfaces exactly flush with each other and without cracks or exposed edges at the joint to check the flow of the fibers in the slivers, which are drawn over such table for various distances up to the full length or the combing machine solely by the pull of the feed rolls of the draw box at the extreme end of the machine. The weight of such cast sliver tables in turn required heavy extensions from the end and intermediate frames of the combing machine to support the table with the necessary rigidity, and abundant fastenings to hold the parts together.

The sliver pans of such constructions were always in our experience separate from the sliver table, each pan requiring its own separate fabrication, and always with the possibility of being or getting out of alignment or level with the sliver table.

The object of the present invention is to improve the construction of these combing niachines as regards the sliver tabl and the sliver pan, in the matters of ease of construction, simplicity of assembling, reduction in fastenings, provision of mountings for various other parts, and saving in weight, with resultant economies in construction costs; in ease of cleaning, in preventing fall of lint and fly under the machine, and in the avoidance of joints in the sliver table to impede the travel of the sliver thereover, thus reducing the amount or attention required in the running of the comber.

To these ends the invention comprises the provision of a one-piece sliver table, which also forms the sliver pans required for the entire combing machine through the addition merely of the necessary fences defining the sides of the required pans.

Other objects and advantages of the invention, and the manner of their attainment are as made plain hereinafter.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a vertical transverse section taken alongside one of the intermediate frames of a- Heilmann type comber, showing the improved sliver table of the invention.

2 is a plan view of a portion of the sliver table of Fig. 1, together with the fence which converts a part of such portion into a sliver pan, showing also the calender rolls mounted directly on the improved table, and the condensing trumpet.

Fig. 3 is a plan view and 4 is a front elevation, of the entire sliver table for a combing machine.

Fig. 5 is an end view of the same table.

Fig. 6 is a section on line 56 of Fig. 5.

In Figs. 1 and 2 are shown certain portions of a Ileilmann type cotton combing machine, in which drawings i'indicates an intermediate frame as customarily interposed between two combing heads of the machine, 3 is the half-lap, 5 the feed roll, i a portion of one of the top detaching rolls, 3 the bottom detaching roll, and 9, i i, and i3 parts of the weighting means for the detaching rolls. it: is the novel one-piece sliver table which also comprises the sliver pans, ii the fleece-guides or fences applied thereto to define the silver pans, i e the condensing trumpet, and 2: the condensing rolls, with the means 23 for pivotally mounting and weighting the top condensing roll.

Referring to the novel one-piece sliver table: unlike its antecedents, it made of heavy gauge sheet metal, preferably stainless steel or other non-corrodible metal capable of taking and retaining a high polish. it is bent throughout its length along a line 25 near the middle of its width, to form the horizontal sliver-supporting area 23 and the sloping apron portion 35 forrning the fleece-supporting areas or sliver pans. Thereby the entire table is stiffened against warping and buckling, the areas at both sides of the bend line 25 being each made plane throughout their length and Width except for the raised rim or box edge 2's formed along the entire front edge of the table both to prevent escape of the sliver off from the table and also to stiiien the front edge against bending. This raised rim 2? is two or three times as high as the thickness of the sliver, and is formed by first bending the sheet metal of the portion 28 of the table up at right angles to the plane of this part 28 of the table, then bending the edge portion at right angles into parallel with part 28 and then downward again at right angles to the plane of the part 28, whereby a channel of inverted U-shape in section is provided, the vertical terminal flange 29 being made of liberal depth, more than double the depth of the channel portion forming the raised rim, to impart the utmost rigidity to the front edge of the table. With the combined bracing action of bend 25 and raised rim 2'! with depending flange it, the entire length of the horizontal portion of table i5 is braced against bending of its end portion or any intermediate portion of its length upward or downward.

To brace the sliver-carrying horizontal portion 23 of the table against twisting or any other remaining possibility of injurious change of shape, the raised rim is duplicated at the end of the table remote from the draw box, herein the left-hand end, shown at the bottom of Figs. 3 and 4. In this case, however, the rim is applied as a separate portion, comprising a member 3!, Fig. 6, having the same channel section and deep flange on one side thereof as raised rim 21 with its flange 25, which member 3! is attached b0 the left-hand end of the horizontal portion 25% of the table by a welding head 33 occupying the angle between the two. The vertical outside web ii of member 3! is prolonged for the entire width of table if, and its top edge follows the upward slope of slanting portion 35 of the table, while the flat top portion and the inward vertical web of member 3! stop at their intersection with the plane of slanting portion 35, the oblique edge of such inward vertical web conforming to the plane of sloping portion 35 and being welded to the edge of such portion 35. A filler piece Bl, out to fit, is fitted into the space remaining be tween the end of sloping portion 35 to the table and vertical web 4|, being welded to the top edge of this web and the rear edge of the top surface of member 3 l, as well as along the line 39 where it joins the sloping portion 35 of the table.

Additional bracing of the improved sliver table to support it and hold it rigid is in the form of members of Z-section each spot-welded along one of its webs to the under side of the horizontal part of table l5, extending inward from the front edge of the table for about f the width of the horizontal portion. The end brace v33 at the right-hand or draw box of the table is of U-section, spot-welded along one of its webs to the under side of the horizontal portion 28.

These braces 45 are spaced so as to register with the ends of the brackets l: of the several frame uprights l. Bolts it passed through holes Si in members 43, 45, and through corresponding holes in lugs 53 on brackets 41 of the frame uprights l fix the table rigidly to the frame of the combing machine.

To secure the elevated rear edge of the slanting portion 35 of the table to the machine frame, bolts 55 are put through slots 51 in the rear edge of the table and through holes in brackets 59 fastened by cap screws Bl to the under sides of struts 63 fixedly mounted on the frame uprights i and supporting the bottom detaching roll bearings and the top detaching roll bearing holders and pressure devices. Rectangular slots 65 in the rear edge of the table adjacent each portion which has a hole 5'! therein, provide scope for the necessary movement of the detaching roll weighting levers l l.

The necessary sliver pans to catch the combed pieced-up web fed forward from detaching rolls l are contrived by simply bolting a pair of symmetrically shaped fences H to the top surface of sloping portion 35, the rearward portion of each fence ll bordering on one side of one of the rectangular slots 65, and the fences being secured in position by bolts put through integral lugs 553 on the fences and through holes H in the table. The area of the surface of sloping part 35 bounded by the two associated fences I1 and by the included length of the rear edge of the table comprises the sliver pan, such being duplicated for each of the several heads of the comber.

Rectangular openings 13 are formed in the table l5, half in the horizontal portion 26 and half in the sloping portion 35, for the trumpet l9 and the bottom calender roll 2 l. The trumpet l9 and its stop-motion box 20 are supported entirely by the table, being bolted to the under side thereof by screws put through holes I5 in the sloping portion 35 of the table. The upper calender roll 2| and its mounting and weighting means 23 are likewise mounted directly on the table, and wholly supported thereby, by means of pintles T! on member 23 which are received in brackets 19 fixed by screws iii to the top surface of sloping portion 35 of the table. Bottom condensing roll 2! is carried as usual on its driveshaft 83 mounted in bearings fixed on frame upright brackets 41.

Sliver guides 85 of usual character are mounton the horizontal part 28 of the table at the customary locations by screws 8? put through holes 89. Push button switches 9! for starting and stopping the drive of the comber are mounton the table flush with the front face of flange 29 at two or more convenient intervals in the length of the machine, by means of brackets 93 spot welded to the under side of the horizontal portion 28, to which brackets the switch boxes are bolted.

The channel member 43. at the right-hand end of the table enables the apron leading the grouped slivers from the table into the draw box (not shown) to be fitted closely against the end of the table with its top surface maintained exactly in the plane of the working surface of the table, so that no obstruction to the travel of the slivers will be presented by the joint. Bolt holes 95 permit the apron to be bolted down onto the exposed top surface of bracket 43, the bolt heads being screened by the elevated sides of the apron (not shown) The bottom web of channel bracket 63 is bolted to the bracket ll of a frame upright, as in the case of the brackets 45.

The one-piece construction which as seen combines into a unitary, homogeneous structure of substantially unbroken rectangular shape in plan the silver table and all the pans needed for a multiple-head comber, forms an unbroken deck extending clear back to the detaching rolls, which leaves no apertures for the fall or collection of lint and fly, or for the passage of disrupting drafts, up or down in the vicinity of the delicate fleece delivered by the detaching rolls. The only apertures in the table breaking the continuity of its surface throughout its entire extent lengthwise past the entire series of heads and foreand-aft the machine are the slots '53 well filled by the bottom calender rolls and the trumpets, and the notches 65 of modest size made for the detaching roll pressure levers. Hence the working surface constituted by this improved table is exceptionally smooth, clear, and unobstructed, and thus both free from tendency to lint collection and easily cleaned. Throughout its length there are no seams, joints, or changes of level to interfere with the flow of the slivers thereover. Through being in one piece, and requiring a minimum of fastenings, assembly of the machine is greatly expedited.

The necessary true surface for unimpeded flow of the silvers, as well as suflicient rigidity and resistance to bending to suit all needs, is attained without the use of the heavy construction employed hitherto. The additional strength and rigidity resulting from the one-piece construction and amplified by the stiflfening effected through the shaping of the rim and the longitudinally extending bend 25 makes the table capable of supporting the necessary adjuncts such as the sliver pan fences, the trumpets and their stop-motions, even including the relatively heavily weighted top calender roll, without the necessity of additional brackets extending from some portion of the main frame to support them, as hitherto. Accessory parts in addition to these named can also be mounted and duly supported by the table. The saving which results from eliminating the use of castings in forming the table, and the resultant saving in a great deal of machining otherwise needed in working up these castings, is obvious.

While we have illustrated and described a certain form in which the invention may be embodied, we are aware that many modifications may be made therein by any person skilled in the art, without departing from the scope of the invention as expressed in the claims. Therefore, we do not wish to be limited to the particular form shown, or to the details of construction thereof, but

What we do claim is:

1. In a machine for combing textile fibers having a plurality of combing heads forming the fibers into fleeces and slivers, a one-piece sliver table serving all the heads, and having integral portions each forming the support for the fleece produced by one of the combing heads.

2. In a machine for combing textile fibers having a plurality of combing heads each forming the fibers into a fleece and the fleece into a sliver, a continuous one-piece sheet-metal table extending substantially throughout the length of the machine and engaged by and supporting both the fleeces and the slivers.

3. In a machine for combing textile fibers having a plurality of combining heads each forming the fibers into a fleece and the fleece into a sliver, a continuous one-piece sheet-metal table extending substantially throughout the length of the machine in horizontal relation and supporting the slivers, and having integral inclined portions supporting the several fleeces.

4. In a combing machine for textile fibers having a plurality of combing heads having detaching rolls forming the fibers into fleeces and having means forming the fleeces into slivers, a one-piece sheet-metal table extending horizontally substantially throughout the length of the machine and supporting the slivers, and having an integral inclined portion extending to the detaching rolls and forming the support for the several fleeces.

5. In a machine for combing textile fibers and forming them into fleeces and slivers, in combination, a sliver table comprising sheet metal stiltened by a flange formed along its front edge and by a bend extending parallel to such flange and located near the middle of the width of the table, the portion forward of the bend supporting the sliver and the portion rearward of the bend supporting the fleece.

6. The combination of claim 5 in which the flange is elevated to form a raised rim on the table.

7. The combination of claim 5 in which the flange extends both above and below the plane of the table.

8. In a machine for combing textile fibers and forming them into fleeces and slivers, in combination, a sliver table comprising sheet metal having one edge portion bent up at right angles to the plane of the adjacent surface along a line parallel to the edge, the edge portion being then bent at right angles to this upwardly extending part into parallel relation with the said plane, and then bent downward at right angles to the said plane to form a channel of inverted U-section providing a raised flat-topped rim.

9. The combination of claim 8 in which there is a bend intermediate the width of the table paralleling the rim and disposing the surface of the table in two obliquely related planes.

10. In a machine for combing textile fibers and forming them into fleeces and slivers, in combination, a sliver table comprising sheet metal with its surface disposed in two angularly related planes intersecting at a bend, the area at one side of the bend engaging and supporting the fleece and the area at the other side of such bend engaging and supporting the sliver.

11. In a machine for combing textile fibers having a plurality of combing heads having detaching rolls forming the fibers into fleeces and having means forming the fleeces into slivers, an integral sheet metal deck extending forwardly and downwardly from the detaching rolls and supporting the fleeces and. thence forwardly in horizontal relation and supporting the slivers and extending from end to end of the machine past all the combing heads.

12. In a machine for combing textile fibers and forming them into slivers, in combination, a one-piece sliver table extending substantially throughout the length of the machine, and guides fixed on the surface of the table cooperating with such surface to define sliver pans.

13. In a machine for combing textile fibers having a plurality of combing heads forming the fibers into slivers and having detaching rolls, weighting means for such rolls, and calender rolls, in combination, a one-piece integral sheet metal table extending from the detaching rolls to the front extremity of the machine and lengthwise of the machine past all the combing heads and supporting with its upper surface both the fleeces and the slivers, the continuity of such surface being broken solely by apertures therein occupied by the weighting means and the calender rolls.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 536,620 Goldsmith Apr. 2, 1895 1,051,362 Alisy Jan. 21, 1913 1,102,298 Schofield July 7, 1914 1,402,569 Clegg Jan. 3, 1922 2,377,924 Crockett June 12, 1945 

